The partnership will focus on the application of cheap contemporary building materials and technologies that will make housing affordable for the low and medium income earners.
The anticipated crash in the cost of constructing the houses, our correspondent gathered, was informed by the relative cheapness of the materials that would be used, especially recycled plastic wastes. The Real Estate Developers Association of Nigeria and the Nigerian Building and Road Research Institute are jointly researching into affordable housing production with quality locally sourced materials. Confirming the development, the National President, REDAN, Chief Olabode Afolayan, told our correspondent that the materials to be used would cost far less than the existing materials, hence, the reason for the relatively low prices of the houses to be constructed.
"We are currently experimenting, and in the next one or two years, the prices of these houses will fall to about N1.5m. REDAN has just signed a Memorandum of Understanding with NBRRI, and the institute is doing a lot of research for us. In no time, this will take off," he said.
According to Afolayan, the recycled plastic wastes will be used to produce Polyvinyl Chloride sheets for construction, as well as PVC pipes for water distribution, conduit facilities and tiles, among others. He said because of the rising cost of building materials, REDAN was now fully committed to using recycled products, especially plastic, as cheap and safe alternative building materials.
"By our model, any plastic can be recycled for this purpose," Afolayan said.
The REDAN boss said that members of the association had leveraged on the hydraform building technology from South Africa to execute some housing projects in Kwara and Osun states.
"We are taking this to other states of the country and are currently negotiating with the state governments," he added.
A director of Global Pathway Limited, a real estate development firm, Mr. Ifeanyi Ndianefo, said that there was every possibility of providing houses for Nigerians at 40 per cent below the current prices.
He said that the rising costs of building materials like cement and iron reinforcements should encourage the three tiers of government to explore alternative technologies in the real estate industry.
Ndianefo, whose firm is involved in the use of steel containers to build houses, noted that it was high time the government stopped paying lip service to the quest for affordable housing, stressing that Nigerians should be given the opportunity to live in affordable and comfortable homes.
The Director-General/Chief Executive Officer, NBRRI, Prof. Danladi Matawal, had recently called on all stakeholders in the building and construction industry to carry out further research into the use of alternative building materials because of the escalating prices of regular building materials.
The institute maintained that the cost of constructing buildings had gone beyond the capability of the average Nigerian because most of the materials and technologies were being imported.
It said that there were appropriate indigenous building technologies that could drastically reduce the cost of construction.
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.....problem now lies in marketing the idea to the citizens......
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